


The Headcanon Game

by Froakie, SanFransokyoStreets



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen, M/M, One Word Prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-16 13:00:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 6,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3489176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Froakie/pseuds/Froakie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SanFransokyoStreets/pseuds/SanFransokyoStreets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of short drabbles from tumblr between myself and sandtigers. Each chapter is a new word prompted drabble with any possible character or pairing. We've affectionately called it the headcanon game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Frosh Week

**Author's Note:**

> If a chapter is going to contain pairings they will be made clear here at the top.

SFIT has a long standing tradition of having one of the most complicated frosh week schedules ever.

Events and tours run almost constantly but for returning students the best part is the unofficial prank war that takes place between them. All week returning and incoming students are subject to some of the craziest inventions and scenarios that can be imagined. With exception to the teachers and staff, no one is safe.

So it catches everyone off guard the year Tadashi Hamada enrolls. Not only does he get through the week completely unscathed he also manages to counter-prank the  _entire student body._ When the complaints die down and someone finally asks him how he did it, he simply replies 

"Sorry guys, but your jokes, have  _nothing_ on Hiro’s”

* * *

 

Waking up on the first day of frosh week, Hiro Hamada has a legacy to live up to, and he fully expects to blow away any and all expectations the student body may have. While Tadashi may have managed to counter-prank the entire student body in his first year, Hiro decided to to go on the offensive. 

Asking his friends for help would have been cheating, in his opinion, so he kept his blueprints and complex plans of attack to himself, quietly plotting the metaphorical demise of every student on campus. He’s fully prepared by the Friday before orientation begins and uses the weekend (and more than a few of his inventions) to sneak around campus and set everything up.

Hiro arrives on campus early - earlier than anyone else in the robotics department - and makes sure he has his video camera out and ready to record the mayhem. His friends arrive shortly after, having been contacted by Baymax who apparently had some concerns with Hiro’s shift in routine.

They question him, knowing full well that he’s done _something_ , but he grins at them and leans back against the tree he’s claimed for the day.

"Just sit back and wait for the show to start."

It takes an hour for campus to fill up with students and faculty alike. Hiro waits until the school president finishes their speech before setting his camera up to record, then pulling out a remote control. The only one of his friends who looks as excited as Hiro feels is Fred, so he tosses him a smug little smirk.

"Time to let them know which department rules this school!"

If anyone were to describe Hiro’s laugh as he set loose a herd of eerie, skeletal robotic quadrupeds to chase everyone around while simultaneously broadcasting ‘Mr. Roboto’, the only word even close to being accurate would be  _maniacal.  
_

Needless to say, Hiro Hamada most certainly lived up to his brother’s legacy.


	2. Camping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tadashi wants to go camping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No pairing. Rated E.

Hiro thought Tadashi was joking about taking him camping.

That was his first mistake. 

His second was jokingly agreeing to it.

By the time he realized that Tadashi wasn’t messing with him they were already and hour outside of San Fransokyo, fully packed and prepared for a weekend of honest-to-god camping.

Just as he was reassuring himself with the fact that he has his cell phone, which has internet and a battery that lasts 5 days - enough to save his sanity - he notices that it has no reception.

"Did you seriously pick the only place in California with a dead zone?!"


	3. Nail Polish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honey notices something curious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No pairing. Rated E.

It took Honey Lemon about four months to notice.

She was slightly ashamed that it had taken her so long but really it was something rather unexpected and a little abnormal.

Well that was a bit sexist though, it wasn't as if it was completely unheard of or looked down upon to do so, she just had never taken the Hamada brothers as the type to wear nail polish.

In fact their nails were practically perfect. Cut to the perfect length to be functional yet not short, cleaned and buffed to an exact curve, and to top it all off each nail sported a pristine clear coating of lacquer.

She admired them so much that one day, when they were all enjoying an evening at the cafe she just had to ask.

"Where do you two get your nails done?"

There were a few confused noises around the table before they caught on to who she was asking but Hiro had managed to spit his milkshake all over Mochi and was in the process of trying to stop his brother from chocking on one of Aunt Cass’ famous doughnuts.

"But don’t you know how much stuff can be passed on in spa tools you two?!"

"Dudes! Is that why your hands are always so nice looking?"

"When I say woman up, I didn't exactly mean like that."

The brothers exchanged a look before Tadashi sighed.

"No one does our nails Honey Lemon, we do them ourselves."

Both of them were sporting pretty significant blushes and poor Hiro had been reduced to staring at their topic of conversation.

"Oh, well maybe you could let me sometime, I mean I have some polish that would look great with your complexions and-"

"It’s not like that, this lacquer is special. Remember the holo-projector screens we have in the garage?"

There was a collective nod from around the table.

"We built that a few years ago, and there are better ways we could remake it now but back when we first made it the way we allowed for the interaction was with a glove. We started trying to make the device smaller and smaller until eventually we we’re able to glue the interface points onto our nails."

Tadashi brandished his nails and pointed out the small discoloration at the very tip of each one while Hiro showed the same.

"So thanks for the offer Honey Lemon, but we’re just fine as it is"

Honey nodded her smile maybe a little less vibrant but in place all the same as everyone returned to their drinks. Well until Honey decided to ask another question.

"Do you think I could convince you to do my nails sometime then? You’re so much better at it then me."

Poor Mochi, it was going to take forever to get all that milkshake out of his fur.


	4. Running Shoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiro needs new shoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No pairing. Rated E.

It was Gogo who finally brought it up with him, shortly after everything was settled with Callaghan and while Hiro was in the process of fine-tuning the carbon-fiber skeleton for Baymax’s new body. She announces her presence with a pop of her gum, startling Hiro out of his focused state. He bangs his head on Baymax’s arm hard enough to hurt, but refuses to let out a cry of pain (because his best friend wouldn't be there to answer. not yet.).

"How blistered are you going to let your feet get before you woman up and buy some new running shoes?"

Hiro blinks at her, confused. Then looks down at his feet and notices small blood stains at his heels, and how uncomfortable his feet actually feel. He frowns.

Normally Tadashi would take him out to buy shoes, since they’d pick up new pairs together and his brother new how crowds made him feel. His anxiety spikes when he goes to the mall and even the thought of going there without Tadashi at his side makes his chest feel tight. Sure, he could go with Aunt Cass, but she’s been so busy with the cafe…

He swallows, keeping his gaze on his lap. “Me and Tadashi would always go together to get shoes.” 

It’s strange to feel simultaneously sad and happy. Bittersweet. An overwhelming sadness that he won’t be able to make new memories with his brother, but delight in the memories he can look back on. Hiro lets out a small chuckle. “He’d always find the coolest looking ones that could stand up to our lab at home.”

Gogo says nothing, and for a moment Hiro fears that she left. He looks up to find her staring at him contemplatively before breaking the silence with another snap of her gum.

"Pack up your stuff and let’s go."

"Huh— What?"

"Pack up your stuff. I’m taking you to get some shoes that won’t tear your feet to shreds.”

When Hiro walks into the lab the next day, purple Converse with reinforced toes giving a spring to his step, nobody brings it up beyond commending his choice in colour.


	5. Ethereal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waiting is hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No pairing. Rated E-T.

They said that he’d been unbelievably lucky. That a single second longer, a single centimeter further, and he wouldn't be with them anymore.

Hiro is thankful at the same time that he is terrified. Aunt Cass has long since cried herself to sleep in one of the uncomfortable chairs. Which left Hiro the only one awake among the beeping of the monitors and machines keeping his brother alive.

Looking at Tadashi lying there, broken and battered made his breath catch somewhere low in his throat and each moment he had to fight not to let the tears wear a trail down his face.

But he watched each moment that the machine pumped air into abused lungs and each jump of the line that told him under the wires and bloody bandages a heart still beat. He watched with a white-knuckled grip on his slowly shattering reality.

Because as ethereal his form looked, how tenuous his grasp on life, Hiro promised himself that he would watch over Tadashi as the elder had always watched over him.

And when those eyes finally opened again, he would be right there.


	6. Halo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being a hero doesn`t always require a suit, and doesn`t always end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Pairing. Rated T.

He just turned twenty-one last week and it’s a year older than his brother ever lived to be. Instead of being sad he focused on how proud his brother would be of him; how many lives he and their friends had saved since then.

It’s why Hiro was running late that day - saving lives. They were just _children_. An entire class of preschoolers and their teachers confronted by one angry father with a gun and nobody to stand between them.

He wasn’t in uniform. Baymax was back at the cafe helping Aunt Cass with the lunch hour rush. All Hiro could do was send out an emergency alert to his friends and hope they would be there in time.

Never one to wait, Hiro takes his place between the gunman and his targets. Give him one thing to focus on.  _One_  target. Blind him to the others.

Take one shot to the chest. Two. A third and he’s still standing between them like a shield, unflinching. It’s the fourth that brings him down - a shot to the knee. Agony rushes through him like a tidal wave.

But he still has one good leg to stand on and struggles to his feet. _They have nowhere to run. I’m all that stands between them._

There are two more bullets left in the canister. Hiro will take both of them if it means none of those families will have to go through what his aunt did twice ( _three times, now)._  The man is enraged and unstable - dashes forward and screams in his face, spit flying. He screams something at him but Hiro can’t make out the words. A pistol-whip to his face. A shot to his other leg.

He drops like a rock, splayed out over the ground like an offering.

One bullet left—

The shot rings out but Hiro feels nothing. He opens his eyes to the blurry form of Baymax standing guard. He smiles, and it doesn’t hurt. When he opens them next his best friend is a few scant inches from his face and Hiro knows he’s worried, even if he’s an AI. Baymax has always been special like that.

"Baymax-"

"They are safe."

A sigh of relief that only causes more blood to drip from his mouth, joining the pool of crimson seeping from his head in a crude mockery of a halo.

"Hiro, you are dying. There is a 0% chance of recovery."

_No kidding._

"Protocol 4."

_Protocol 4. In the event of my death, ensure my final wishes are fulfilled. Primary user privileges transfer to Aunt Cass.  
_

Silence, then: “Understood.”

“‘Tell everyone I love them.”

"I will miss you, Hiro."

He smiles. Nothing is hurting anymore. He can see the form of his brother hovering by his side, smiling back.

"You too, bud."

The next time Hiro opens his eyes it’s to the first hug he’s had from his brother in seven years. 

_It’s been a while huh, bro?_

An affectionate ruffling of his hair. Tadashi is equal parts happy and heartbroken.

_Not long enough, knucklehead._


	7. Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On breaking rules.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Pairing. Rated E.

Hiro Hamada knows that he is a genius. 

It was easy to see that based on the work he could do, the almost innate ease that he has working with robotics. 

Hiro Hamada knows that he is also a teenager.

As a teenager, and in the past as a younger brother, he has always felt a little compelled to bring chaos into the lives of those closest to him.

In essence he is a rulebreaker.

He broke the house rules.

the school rules.

botfighting rules and even lab rules.

(Never the Hamada brothers rules. Never those)

So what was a little twisting of the rules of time and space to such a prolific rulebreaker. If it was so bad he’d soon have Tadashi to scold him again anyway.

There were benefits to being a genius with access to a portal that rips into time and space after all.


	8. Ice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There`s free ice cream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Pairing. Rated E.

Free ice cream was free ice cream, right? You would have to be a moron to pass up  _free ice cream_ ,even if it  _is_  peanut brittle and you  _maybe_  have a mild peanut allergy.  _Mild._  Not life-threatening. And Hiro Hamada is no moron, despite what his older brother may have said.

Ten minutes later find him making a mad, panicked dash across the robotics lab floor, sliding the last few metres into his private lab and grabbing an epipen from the bottom drawer of his desk. Stabbing the shot into his thigh, Hiro breathes a sigh of relief as it takes effect and sprawls across the cold, tiled floor.

Baymax takes this moment to scan him, announcing his diagnosis to their friends who have all come to his aid, varying expressions of confusion and worry lining their faces.

"Mild peanut allergy seems to have developed into: moderate peanut allergy. Recommended treatment: avoid peanuts and peanut products. Make sure to keep a shot of epinephrin available at all times."

Hiro thinks his nursebot is done, but no - 

"The next time you feel the desire to eat peanuts, please contact a friend or loved one."

He can just  _feel_  the judgmental stares burning into him. Feeling the need to defend himself, Hiro speaks up:

” _Totally_  worth it,” he wheezes. “For science.”


	9. Batteries Not Included

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The nerds are having a bit of trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Pairing. Rated E.

"Maybe the wires are fried?"

"It’s brand new why would the wires be out already? I say it’s the wheels."

"Well maybe it’s missing a piece, manufactures can’t be trusted"

"Are you sure you read the instructions right Freddie?"

"Sabotage I say! SABOTAGE!"

Tadashi, Gogo, Wasabi, Honey and Fred stood surrounding a small model helicopter. A recent acquisition of Fred’s, it was apparently a perfect replica of some Captain Jackson whats-his-name from some comicbook or other. He had wanted to show off the retro toy to his friends, to his dismay however the small remote toy just didn’t want to work and none of them could figure out why.

They’d been debating the option of taking it apart for the past 20 minutes when suddenly the small blades began rotating and the model took off.

"It works! Yes! Freddie so happy!"

A small cough turned their attention from the miraculously functioning toy to Hiro who was lounging in Fred’s recliner.

"For a bunch of nerds, you guys sure can miss the obvious sometimes huh?"

With the controller in hand he taped the box everything had come from, or more accurately the print on the side that declared ‘batteries [not included]’.


	10. Pineapple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honey Lemon grows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Pairing. Rated E.

There are some days that, for all of her confidence, Honey Lemon feels insecure. Unlike her sisters, who inherited their parents’ dark hair and complexions, Honey took after her late-grandfather; the light hair and green eyes of his European heritage. People look at her with her family, all boisterous and chatting in loud, rapid fire Spanish, and  _stare (because you’re beautiful, mi pequeña,_ her mother would say) or - even worse - comment on how lovely it is to see such a large family adopt.

In junior high she coloured her hair a lovely brown to match her sisters, but it only served to accentuate her lighter skin tone. She tried spray tans and tanning creams, but they never looked right on her — too fake; orange. Her family couldn’t understand, because they didn’t know what it was like to be denied your heritage due to the shade of your skin.

It was something she struggled with until the ninth grade, when she met Ethyl - ‘ _call me Gogo’_  - Tomago. They were both the anti-stereotype to their respective heritages, with Gogo crushing the docile, studious Korean girl under the wheels of her bike. Slowly, her new friend made her feel more confident in herself - it was more than just her appearance that made her a Latina.

Soon she was helping Gogo with her Spanish as well as her chemistry, and in return was being taught some Korean and given useful tips for advanced physics. Lunch hours were their own secret multicultural picnics, with Honey Lemon always going above and beyond with her culinary skills. In true Latina style she makes sure her friend is stuffed to burst by the end of the hour, enough calories to get her through another afternoon of dealing with neanderthals.

Some days though… Some days she could feel her confidence waning, but Gogo was always there to make her laugh and pick her right back up again.

"Don’t let those losers get to you. They’d probably take one look at a pineapple and think it was a cactus."

Smiling, Honey Lemon knows that even if she has her bad days, in her heart she is a true  _latina_ , regardless of what’s on the outside.


	11. Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She`s on her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Pairing. Rated E.

It`s happening.

Check, double check, triple check.

Flick another switch.

Make sure the systems are online. That the safety measures are functioning. That everything is as it should be.

All is in order.

They`ve run hundreds of tests, she`s practiced thousands of times. Out of all the candidates she was chosen. This was her time to shine.The first step in her journey. 

She was going to make her father so proud.

There`s a crackling over the intercom.

”Ready Abigail?”

Krei, always the showman.

"We’ve invited all these people. Might as well give them a show." 

Last checks complete and it`s time.

She can hear the hum of the engines now and the pod begins to move.

The portal is right ahead, waiting, growing closer.

3…2…1

She`s through.

And with barely an echo of the explosion from the other side,

she’s gone. 


	12. Trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes he just feels trapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Pairing. Rated E-T.

He’s lost his brother a second time to this woman he’s never met, sleeping peacefully while the world around him crumbles. It seems that every time he finds his footing the ground gives way, leaving him struggling to keep his head above the water.

His friends are relieved to see him and he can see a fraction of his own pain echoed on their faces as they realize what was lost to the portal. He tells himself that they’re enough to make up for what’s missing  _(they’re not)._

He tells himself that his friends and Aunt Cass are enough to make him want to stay, when all he really wants is to be lost in that beautiful, frightening world; Baymax at his side while they find his brother in the coloured fractals around them as surely as they found Abigail Callaghan.

Hiro Hamada tells himself that he doesn’t feel  _obligated_  to stay - that he _wants_  to.

That he doesn’t feel trapped by the expectation of living.

That it isn’t a lie.

_(It is.)_


	13. Fairytales

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It can be hard, believing in fairytales.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GogoxTadashi. Rated E.

When she was young, she loved it when her mother would tell her stories.

She’d swoon and sigh at all the right places, her eyes alight with the ideas of happily ever afters in kingdoms far far away.

She wore bright pinks and blues, frilly skirts with cute shirts and if the boys in her class said she was gross and had cooties well then it didn’t matter because they were not her prince charming.

But years are long and as much as we all want to dream there must be a time when we wake up.

So she hung up her dresses, traded them in for jeans and shorts and instead of storybooks read textbooks.

She grew and with her, her responsibilities. She got a job in her neighbourhood delivering papers on her bike. She cut her long hair into a more functional bob and when the boys teased her for it this time she took to her bike and left their jeers far behind.

Time flew and so did she, going faster and faster, carving herself a niche. Don’t mees with her, she’s the fastest, the strongest, and her guard always unbroken.  She wears her scars as streaks across her hair and armors herself in leather and an indomitable pride in herself.

She’s the unstoppable and unchained, she’s long forgotten her princess dreams and instead made herself a queen.

But then he’s there, sneaking his way through the chinks in her guard like a cold wind on a lonely night. Hears her hissing and spitting but calls back with soft whispers and caring smiles. He never tries to sweep her off her feet but somehow manages to do so anyway and for the first time in many a year she remembers that even queens can have kings.

It doesn’t make her armor thinner, just gives it new form, lets her wrap not just herself but those important to her within it and he stands at the very centre.

It’s been so long since she’s chosen to believe in childhood dreams, but he makes it so very easy when the words I love you tumble from his lips.

She’ll forever regret that the same words were taken from her, they burned up on the breath that she’d been holding all this time. Lost that single most important sentence among the roar of flames, like he was to her.

She tries not to cry, tries to stand resolute in black slacks when she watches a box lowering into the ground, but the rain is cold and she shivers along with her stuttering broken heart.

She has to build up her armor all over again. Takes the time to cover those spaces that were filled with him and binds it so tight that there is hardly room to breathe much less room for someone to worm their way in again.

She reminds herself that day the reason she doesn’t believe in fairytales.

‘ _There’s no such thing as a happy endings Gogo. Time to woman up._ ’


	14. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiro`s road to discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Pairing. Rated E.

When he was six girls had cooties. And when asked who he would marry, up until the age of eight, the answer was always spoken so matter-of-fact it was though it was just another law of the universe.

_Tadashi._

He was always told he would change his mind when he was older - girls would become precious treasures; he would be won over by their beauty and charm. But when he turned ten, then twelve, then fourteen and his mind did change - just not in the way everyone told him it would.

Girls were pretty, but so were boys. He didn’t want to kiss them, or date them. They were pretty in the same way flowers were pretty, or one of his aunt’s frosted masterpieces: aesthetically appealing and nice to look at every so often. Nothing life-changing like everyone around him seemed to believe.

At sixteen Hiro Hamada knows for a fact that no person will ever make him feel as complete and fulfilled at heart than he does when hunched over a new project in his lab. He doesn’t need a girlfriend when he can spend that time with Baymax instead. Doesn’t want a boyfriend when he could be spending that time with family.

He didn’t know what to classify himself. Never really cared about labels, but he had to admit that they made everything so much easier. If he could tell prying customers or distant relatives  _why_  he was sick of being asked if he was dating anyone yet (as though the greatest thing he could accomplish in life was getting a date - talk about priorities).

He’s waiting in line at the cafeteria and glancing through all the ads on the poster board, eyes stopping at one phrase particular that catches his attention:

_Come celebrate Asexual Awareness Week!_

A snort. How can humans be asexual? Didn’t they take Bio 101?

But it bothers him for the rest of that day. Right up until he’s halfway through dinner with Aunt Cass and hits him like a freight train. The milk he was drinking shooting out his nose onto the table, chair toppling over behind him as he stands up so fast his head is dizzy with it. 

Initially startled, but accustomed to such outbursts after raising two geniuses for a majority of their lives, Aunt Cass quickly recovers and arches an amused brow at him.

"…Eureka?" 

"Asexual!"

Whatever she had been expecting, it most certainly wasn’t that. “Uh… Yeah?”

"I’m asexual!"

"Oh,  _honey,_ " Cass laughs at him. Luckily Hiro is too stunned ( _happy_ ) by his sudden revelation to be mad at her for it. She continues once the laughter dies down to more manageable giggles.  “I’ve known that for  _years_.”

…

” _WHAT?!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: and that is the story of how hiro hamada discovered he was asexual after literally everyone else in his life already figured it out


	15. Pallor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's not Tadashi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Pairing. Rated E but creepy.

As much as it is a cliche, it was a dark and stormy night.

It was a violent storm. The wind and rain pounded against the windows, rattling them in their frames and with a flash of lightning thunder rumbled not too far off.

Hiro lay shivering in his bed, the uncharacteristic weather causing a chill to seep into the home. But the cold was not the reason for his shivering.

No. He was huddled under blankets with hands pressed against his ears, shaking in absolute terror.

Because 2 weeks ago there had been a fire.  
Because 7 days ago he had buried the most important person in his life.  
Because the thing standing by his feet was not his big brother.

Its skin was pale as ash, its hair the color of fresh graveyard soil. The tatters of clothing it wore were blackened and cracked, revealing the weeping red wounds stretched across its body. Its face was a mockery of his memory, all sharp teeth and angles, with eyes burning just like that night.  
But beyond the pallor of its flesh, the smoldering red of its eyes, and the hand that constantly reached out for him. The worst part was the low insidious whispers that accompanied the creature every night. 

No matter how loud the wind would howl outside he’d still be able to hear it, as if it was spoken right next to his ear.

"Hiro… need you"

Hiro loved Tadashi, but he only had to see the finger shaped bruises around his ankle to remember.

The thing at the foot of his bed was not Tadashi.


	16. Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's got a long way to send them.

When Hiro was small and his family had him still convinced that Santa Claus was real, Tadashi would help him write letters to send every year on the second week of December. They would seal an envelope filled with his wishes and burn them so the curling wisps of smoke could be snatched up by the jolly old man and turned back into his childish scrawl to be read.  
  
It takes two years for fire to stop sending him into panic attacks. Two years of filling up journals with letters his brother’s eyes will never see.  
  
On the second anniversary of Tadashi’s death, Hiro collects all of the hopes and dreams and wishes and stories and ideas he wanted to share. All of the newspaper clippings about Big Hero 6, or any of their group of friends, or Hiro himself. Everything Tadashi has missed out on up until this point in time.  
  
He takes it all, grabs his brother’s surfboard and, with Baymax’s help and Aunt Cass’ blessing, goes to the beach they grew up playing on just before sunset.  
  
Nobody bothers him as he places everything on the surfboard with a careful, balanced precision and paddles out into the ocean until everything is quiet save for the lapping of waves against the board. Baymax bobs on the surface next to him, an ever-present companion.  
  
The fire burns strong and bright, an uncomfortable heat against his skin. Hiro is proud that it doesn’t send him into a panic and that he’s calm enough to focus on the smoke furling up into the atmosphere. This isn’t the same kind of smoke that took his brother from him - this is the kind of smoke that speaks of roasting s’mores over campfires and sending letters to Santa.  
  
The smoke of good memories, not bad.  
  
“I’ll try and send you letters more often, you giant nerd.”


	17. Ambidextrous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiro and Tadashi have a way with their hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Pairing, Rated E

Hiro is 5 and Tadashi 9 when they build the hovercraft. It’s there biggest project to date and Aunt Cass is very impressed with it. Aunt Cass is not impressed after she learned the machine could actually fly. She's even less impressed when after approximately 4 airborne minutes when she has to drive her two watery eyed nephews to the hospital while they cradle swollen wrists.

8 hours later and the boys are once again sitting side by side in the old pickup truck brightly colored casts decorating their forearms from elbow to fingers.

For Hiro, a bright red on his right side.

For Tadashi, a dark purple on his left side.

They aren't bothered by the incident (all great inventors suffer some backfires) and actually enjoy the novelty of the casts for the first while. 

They discover the problems of having one the next day when Tadashi goes to pick up a pencil to start his homework only to realize he can’t work the fingers of his left hand around the small stick of wood. He shoots a wide eyed glance at Hiro who looks back equally troubled with his own work sitting on his desk.

“Oh”

Of course this is completely unacceptable. But shrugging it off in the way that only the young can, they decide that if the one hand doesn’t work then they’ll just have to use the other one. They’d always used opposite hands of each other, it couldn’t be hard right?

Turns out it’s very hard.

What usually is very neat handwriting looks like a 3 year old Hiro’s old crayon scribbles not to mention the frustration they feel when they need to fix a bolt or screw on one of their little machines and just _can’t._

Cass tries to use it as some sort of safety lesson, reminding them they wouldn’t be dealing with it if they had kept their tinkering on the ground.

The boys are not to be deterred however and it’s only through some combination of stubbornness and sheer amount of practice that their writing begins to look legible again. One problem solved. Hamabro fistbump.

It’s Hiro who comes up with the solution to their other problem.  They need two hands to work on the bots, well Hiro has one and Tadashi has one and that makes two.  More Hamabro fistbumps.

Cass is thankful that the complaints about the casts has died down in the past month to the regular “its itchy Aunt Cass” but it surprises her when she walks into their room one afternoon to find Hiro seated comfortably in Tadashi`s lap and the two of them working in tandem on a small circuit board.  It`s almost unsettling how one of them moves to accommodate the other, or how without even a spoken word they are able to work together on the tiny piece of machinery.  But these are just her boys, doing amazing things again.

By the time the casts finally come off they`d been working together like that for months. They`re happy about getting their other hands back and are even pleasantly surprised at the new balance and precision they have with both of their hands. They also consider how much easier it was, sharing ideas and working together and decide that they have no reason to stop.

So they don`t.

Grade school passes and so does high school, but Hiro will still comfortably hunker down in Tadashi`s lap and they’ll pass work between two hands like they were a single person. The extra set of hands and elbows originally take some time to get used too again but it’s nothing new now.  Any given day Hiro might sneak under his brother with his left hand and start on the problems at the bottom of the math problem worksheet while Tadashi works at the top.  At the same time Tadashi will reach around his little brother with his right hand and hold still a metal bot casing while Hiro crews it tighter together.

They see nothing strange with it and even when Tadashi goes right into SFIT and Hiro takes some time to try and actually do some physical growing before he pushes himself forward they still work in tandem during the evenings, Hiro making little annotations in the margins of Tadashi's essay as the two of them get into a debate over lithium ion or super capacitors.

When Hiro finally agrees to enroll for the next year they see no problem with sharing the lab, Hiro spends practically all his time behind the frosted glass nestled against Tadashi anyway to make up for the time they spend working apart in the rest of the college.

In fact, completely without meaning too, their work habit doesn`t even come out of the enclosed lab until the week after Tadashi breaks his wrist and hand(apparently even marshmallows pack a punch, and the destructive power of a malfunctioning Baymax is not to be underestimated ) and Honey offers to be a note taker for him.

“It`s fine Honey, I can take my own notes” He`s shuffling papers around on his new temporary desk the arm wrapped in a cast (a simple white this time) resting placid at his side.

“You should let your hand rest a bit while it heals Tadashi” All of the gang have been trying to help him with small things, shifting things around and whatnot, but it`s become kind of irritating not finding things where he left them. He privately thinks that it would be much worse if Hiro wasn`t always putting them back where he needed them.

Hiro walks into the lab just at that moment too, bag slung over his shoulder and cords that Tadashi had needed since earlier in the afternoon in hand.

“Here you go bro, last I checked we needed these today right?” Hiro is right in his personal space where he belongs finishing moving everything where it needs to go to Tadashi’s relief before he turns to Honey “He is going to rest his hand Honey Lemon, he’ll just write with the other, we’re ambidextrous”

Tadashi slips into the chair brining his legs up into crossed position and Hiro hops over right into his lap.

“Both of you are?” Gogo sounds skeptical but the trait is uncommon so Hiro shrugs it off while Tadashi explains.

“Accident when we were little, we learned and then never really got out of the habit” He’s started typing on his laptop now and Hiro is unwinding the cords and connecting them to the chip reader.

His one hand is already steadily going through the keystrokes when Hiro’s join him and the two of them are quickly drawn into the familiar movements of the other.

The rest of the lab takes a moment to gawk at the fluidity of their movements. Wasabi almost twitches when he sees Hiro`s right hand join Tadashi`s left on the keyboard cringing at the expected strings of mistakes they`re going to produce, only to drop his jaw when the code seems to be moving along as flawlessly as the murmured conversation between the two of them.

Gogo snaps her gum “I think that's a little more than ambidextrous…” she trails off watching the two of them become immersed in their thoughts and oblivious to the world around them.  She herself has had some experience with her none dominant hand so she understands but she also privately wonders what kind of connection is needed for one human being to be the hand of another.

Questions can wait till later though. They have that smile on their faces that means they'll be like that for hours, and she can see Wasabi bringing out his wrench set from the corner of her eyes. She spares a last glance at the brothers who've tuned out Fred's exuberant questions and Honey's fretting tendencies, and wonders what other kind of secrets they might be hiding in their collective memory, and whether or not they’ll ever tell them to the world.


End file.
